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(Genesis–Deuteronomy)
Dr. Anderson’s Interpretive Guide to the Bible Volume 1
March 2015 edition
Copyright © 2015 by Steven David Anderson. All rights reserved. Not
to be reproduced without the explicit written consent of the
author. Cover photograph (taken by the author): the Arnon gorge
(north border of Moab) Published by Steven D. Anderson at Payhip
Self-published by the author Author’s webpage:
http://Bible.TruthOnly.com Author’s blog: http://TruthOnlyBible.com
Citation for The Chicago Manual of Style (Turabian) and The SBL
Handbook of Style: Anderson, Steven D. Dr. Anderson’s Interpretive
Guide to the Pentateuch (Genesis–Deuteronomy).
March 2015 ed. Dr. Anderson’s Interpretive Guide to the Bible 1.
Grand Rapids: Steven D. Anderson, 2015.
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PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................................... VI
STYLE NOTES .................................................................................................................................................... VII
Quotations of the Bible ...................................................................................................................................... vii
A Note on the Divine Name ................................................................................................................................ vii
Common Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................................... vii
Abbreviations of the Books of the Bible ............................................................................................................ viii
INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE ............................................................................................................................ 1
THE DATE OF THE BIBLE .................................................................................................................................................. 1
THE AUTHOR(S) OF THE BIBLE .......................................................................................................................................... 1
THE AUDIENCE OF THE BIBLE ............................................................................................................................................ 2
THE SUBJECT OF THE BIBLE .............................................................................................................................................. 2
THE PURPOSE OF THE BIBLE ............................................................................................................................................. 3
THE MESSAGE OF THE BIBLE ............................................................................................................................................ 3
The Storyline of the Bible ..................................................................................................................................... 3
The Gospel Message ............................................................................................................................................ 5
GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE BIBLE ....................................................................................................................................... 6
General Outline of the Old Testament ................................................................................................................. 8
General Outline of the New Testament ................................................................................................................ 9
INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH ............................................................................................................... 10
THEME ...................................................................................................................................................................... 11
PURPOSE .................................................................................................................................................................... 11
MESSAGE ................................................................................................................................................................... 12
AUTHOR AND DATE ...................................................................................................................................................... 12
The Authorship of Genesis .................................................................................................................................. 13
Textual Updating in the Pentateuch .................................................................................................................. 18
THE DOCUMENTARY HYPOTHESIS AND OTHER ATTACKS ON THE MOSAIC AUTHORSHIP OF THE PENTATEUCH ................................ 26
The Historical Development of the Critical View ................................................................................................ 26
Objections to the Documentary Hypothesis ....................................................................................................... 28
Practical Implications ......................................................................................................................................... 32
THE TEXT OF THE PENTATEUCH ....................................................................................................................................... 33
The Samaritan Pentateuch ................................................................................................................................. 36
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR THE PENTATEUCH .............................................................................................................................. 38
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE TO GENESIS ..................................................................................................................... 41
AUTHOR AND DATE ...................................................................................................................................................... 42
PURPOSE AND MESSAGE ............................................................................................................................................... 42
OUTLINE OF GENESIS .................................................................................................................................................... 42
Summary Outline................................................................................................................................................ 43
Expanded Outline ............................................................................................................................................... 43
ARGUMENT OF GENESIS ................................................................................................................................................ 49
Creation Week, 1:1–2:3 ...................................................................................................................................... 49
Early History of the Earth, 2:4–4:26 ................................................................................................................... 50
History of Adam’s Descendants, 5:1–6:8 ........................................................................................................... 51
History of Noah, 6:9–9:29 .................................................................................................................................. 51
History of Noah’s Descendants, 10:1–11:9 ........................................................................................................ 52
Record of Shem’s Descendants, 11:1026 .......................................................................................................... 53
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History of Terah’s Family (Focus on Abraham), 11:27–25:11 ............................................................................ 54
Descendants of Ishmael, 25:1218 ..................................................................................................................... 58
History of Isaac’s Family (Focus on Jacob), 25:19–35:29 ................................................................................... 58
History of Esau and His Immediate Descendants, 36:18 ................................................................................... 61
Later History of Edom, 36:9–37:1 ....................................................................................................................... 62
History of Jacob’s Family, 37:2–50:26 ................................................................................................................ 62
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR GENESIS .......................................................................................................................................... 68
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE TO EXODUS ..................................................................................................................... 75
AUTHOR AND DATE ...................................................................................................................................................... 75
PURPOSE AND MESSAGE ............................................................................................................................................... 75
OUTLINE OF EXODUS .................................................................................................................................................... 76
Summary Outline................................................................................................................................................ 76
Expanded Outline ............................................................................................................................................... 76
ARGUMENT OF EXODUS ................................................................................................................................................ 81
Israel in Egypt, 1:1–12:36 ................................................................................................................................... 81
From Egypt to Sinai, 12:37–18:27 ...................................................................................................................... 83
Israel at Sinai, 19:1–40:38 .................................................................................................................................. 85
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR EXODUS ........................................................................................................................................... 89
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE TO LEVITICUS ................................................................................................................... 92
AUTHOR AND DATE ...................................................................................................................................................... 93
PURPOSE AND MESSAGE ............................................................................................................................................... 93
THE RELEVANCE OF THE LAW FOR TODAY ......................................................................................................................... 94
REFLECTIONS UPON THE IDEAL SYSTEM OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE ............................................................................................... 95
OUTLINE OF LEVITICUS .................................................................................................................................................. 97
ARGUMENT OF LEVITICUS ............................................................................................................................................ 101
Laws concerning Approach to God, 1:1–16:34 ................................................................................................. 101
Requirements for Communion with God, 17:1–27:34 ...................................................................................... 102
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR LEVITICUS ...................................................................................................................................... 104
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE TO NUMBERS ................................................................................................................ 107
AUTHOR AND DATE .................................................................................................................................................... 107
PURPOSE AND MESSAGE ............................................................................................................................................. 107
OUTLINE OF NUMBERS ............................................................................................................................................... 107
ARGUMENT OF NUMBERS ........................................................................................................................................... 113
Preparation for Leaving Sinai, 1:1–10:10 ......................................................................................................... 113
Journey to Kadeshbarnea, 10:11–12:15.......................................................................................................... 115
Israel at Kadeshbarnea, 12:16–14:45 ............................................................................................................. 115
Wandering in the Wilderness, 15:1–19:22 ....................................................................................................... 115
Journey to the Plains of Moab, 20:1–22:1 ........................................................................................................ 117
Israel at the Plains of Moab, 22:2–36:13 ......................................................................................................... 117
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR NUMBERS ...................................................................................................................................... 121
INTERPRETIVE GUIDE TO DEUTERONOMY ....................................................................................................... 123
AUTHOR AND DATE .................................................................................................................................................... 123
PURPOSE AND MESSAGE ............................................................................................................................................. 123
OUTLINE OF DEUTERONOMY ........................................................................................................................................ 123
ARGUMENT OF DEUTERONOMY .................................................................................................................................... 127
Moses’ First Major Address: A Review of God’s Faithfulness, 1:1–4:49 ........................................................... 128
Moses’ Second Major Address: An Exposition of the Law, 5:1–26:19 .............................................................. 129
Preparations for Renewing the Covenant, 27:1–28:68 .................................................................................... 129
Moses’ Third Major Address: An Exhortation to Covenantal Faithfulness, 29:1–30:20 ................................... 129
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Moses’ Last Acts, 31:1–34:12 ........................................................................................................................... 130
BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR DEUTERONOMY .............................................................................................................................. 131
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Dr. Anderson’s Interpretive Guide to the Bible Introduction to the
Bible
1
Introduction to the Bible
The Bible is a collection (‘canon’) of books that were written by
men, but that are actually the words of God Himself. The Bible is,
in its entirety, God’s written revelation to man, and there is no
written revelation from God to man outside of the Bible. Although
the Bible consists of many individual books that were written by
different men at many different times and places, these books
together form a single Book, or Bible. The Bible is a unity because
it was given by a single Author. The diverse revelations given to
so many different men in so many different ways are never at
variance with each other, but always complement and harmonize.
Further, there are clear connections between the revelation given
in one book and that given in another, so that, for example,
prophecies in Ezekiel and Daniel are partially interpreted and
clarified by prophecies in Revelation. In fact, no part of the
Bible can ever be fully understood on its own, without illustrating
it from other parts of the Bible, for the Bible is an organic
unity. In all of history, there has never been a book so loved yet
so hated, so well-known yet so ignored, so comforting yet so
polarizing, so honorable yet so despised. The Bible has been
scrutinized like no other book in all the history of all the world,
and it has stood up to the toughest tests. All the efforts of
modern and postmodern scholarship alike has to the present day been
unable to prove a single error anywhere in the entire Bible, not
even in the minutest details. The Bible has stood the test of time
and the test of scrutiny. It is a book that is worthy of total
trust and confidence, to such an extent that one may rest assured
when he entrusts his eternal fortunes to its promises.
The Date of the Bible The Bible was composed in stages over a
period of about 2,150 years, from about 2050 B.C. to A.D. 96.1 The
last and final book of the Bible to be written was the book of
Revelation (‘the Apocalypse’), which was evidently written in or
very near A.D. 96. The book of Job was likely composed around 2050
B.C., making it the earliest book of the Bible to be written in its
present form. However, the book of Genesis is a compilation of
records which date to a much earlier time, the earliest of which
were likely written by Adam himself before the Deluge (Flood).
Thus, although Moses completed the writing of the Pentateuch around
1405 B.C., he acted merely as an editor of the book of Genesis,
which began to be composed at least as early as 3400 B.C. The
account of creation in Genesis 1:1–2:3 could have been written even
earlier; certainly it must have been known from the beginning of
human history. God’s revelation to man is as old as the earth
itself, but the period of the actual composition of the Bible dates
to a later period when a written record was needed to preserve
revealed truth.
The Author(s) of the Bible The Author of the Bible is the Holy
Spirit of God.2 This is stated directly in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2
Peter 1:21 (cf. Matt 22:43; Acts 1:16; 28:25; Heb 3:7). The writers
of the Bible, however, were men. The men who wrote the Bible were,
in a sense, authors as well, since they confess their sins to God,
praise God, and write other things that God would not write if he
were the sole Author. Yet they spoke through the Holy Spirit (were
“inspired”) as they did so, and were moved in such a way as to
write the actual words of God. As with any supernatural process,
there is a degree of mystery involved from a human 1 A statement of
the date of the Bible answers the question, “When was the Bible
written?” 2 A statement of the Author of the Bible answers the
question, “Who created the Bible?”
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Dr. Anderson’s Interpretive Guide to the Bible Introduction to the
Bible
2
point of view, making it impossible to fully comprehend how it
worked. Though there are parts of the Bible, such as Leviticus and
portions of prophetic books, that are presented as word-for-word
audible dictation from God, one still finds a degree of individual
writing styles within these portions of Scripture. The Holy Spirit
evidently gave prophets the freedom to speak and write the
revelations which they received in their own natural manner of
speaking and writing. This freedom had to do with form, not with
propositional truth. Matthew 10:19-20 indicates that when the Holy
Spirit gives men words to speak, He somehow places the ideas in
their minds and guides what they say, but allows them to say it in
the language and manner of speaking that they typically use to
express themselves. Probably only Genesis 1 can be said to
represent so-called “mechanical dictation” from Author to writer.
Other parts of the Bible, such as penitential Psalms and the New
Testament epistles, were evidently written in some sort of
prophetic state, but without the writer hearing an audible voice.
The important fact for us to know is that the Bible is the Word of
God. It was produced by God Himself, using human writers. While
inspiration makes the Bible self-authenticating, without the need
for any external proof of validity, the fulfillment of Bible
prophecy can certainly be considered a proof of the Bible’s divine
origin (cf. Deut 18:21-22).
The Audience of the Bible The Bible was written to mankind, and to
all of mankind.3 Most books of the Bible were originally written to
a narrow group of recipients—such as Israel or a local church. But
every book of the Bible was intended by the Holy Spirit for the use
of the whole world. Jesus commanded the church to take the gospel
message (contained in the New Testament) to the uttermost part of
the world (Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). The Old Testament forms the
historical and theological foundation for the New Testament, and 1
Corinthians 10:11 states that the things written in the Old
Testament were written for our edification. Thus, the entire Bible
is intended for the entire world.
The Subject of the Bible Clearly the subject of the Bible is God.4
The Bible is a book about God, about who He is and what He does.
Since the Bible was written to man, in order to reveal God to man,
it has much to say about God’s dealings with men and His plan for
the human race. Since God exists in trinity, the Bible reveals God
as triune, and contains a considerable description of each member
of the holy Trinity. It especially has much to say about God the
Son (Jesus), since He bridges the gap between God and man by
becoming
3 A statement of the audience of the Bible answers the question,
“To whom was the Bible written?” 4 A statement of the subject of
the Bible answers the question, “What is the Bible about?” A
popular response to this question by an older generation of
fundamentalist expositors was “Jesus Christ.” Some went so far as
to say that the main point of every book of the Bible, and even of
every chapter of the Bible, was to reveal Christ. This then forced
them to allegorize in order to find how Christ was revealed in, for
example, the life of Joseph or the Song of Songs. It is obviously
better to develop the subject of the Bible from the biblical text
itself, rather than developing the subject through a seemingly
arbitrary theological assertion, and then trying to find a way to
read the Bible to fit one’s theology. It is also best to view the
Bible as a whole when developing a statement of its subject, since
the main subject of a book may not be the main subject of every
paragraph or every section of the book. A biography of Abraham
Lincoln, for example, could include a chapter on Lincoln’s wife or
a chapter on social conditions in the antebellum South. Such
chapters, in which Abraham Lincoln would not be the main subject,
would not destroy the subject-unity of the book; they would simply
function to give background information that is necessary to more
fully understand and elucidate the overall subject of the book, to
which the book would always return.
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Dr. Anderson’s Interpretive Guide to the Bible Introduction to the
Pentateuch
10
More properly called the Torah
The Pentateuch (“five scrolls”),1 more properly called by its
biblical name Torah (“Law”), consists of the first five books in
the English Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy. However, “it was not originally viewed as five
distinctive works. Rather, the Torah was one book. The singular
‘Book of Moses,’ ‘book of the law,’ or simply ‘book,’ is attested
[as late as] exilic and postexilic times (e.g., 2 Chr 25:4; 34:14;
35:12; Ezra 6:18; Neh 8:3, 5; 13:1) and in Mark’s Gospel (12:26).”2
Thus, Moses originally wrote the whole Torah on a single scroll;
the claim that such large scrolls could not be manufactured is
belied by the fact that Jews today still keep a copy of a Torah
scroll in an ark in their synagogues.3 Although some scholars refer
to the “Hexateuch” under the assumption that the book of Joshua,
too, is properly a part of the Torah, the reference to “this book
of the law” in Joshua 1:7-8 proves that the Torah, as originally
written, did not include the book of Joshua. According to Joshua
24:26, Joshua latter added an account of the conquest to the
narrative of the Pentateuch, but he may have done so on a new
scroll. There is a sense in which all the OT historical books
except Ruth, Chronicles, and Esther form a continuous narrative,
but they were always considered separate volumes by the Jews
because they were written by different authors, at different times,
and on separate scrolls. For the same reason, while the Bible is a
single, unified book—God’s Word to man—it is convenient and proper
to subdivide the Bible into the individual units in which it was
originally given. The unity of the Pentateuch is also demonstrated
by the references in each book to things recorded in another. Thus,
“Genesis anticipates the central concern of Exodus when Joseph’s
final words announce the return of Jacob’s seed ‘to the land he
[God] promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’ (50:24; cp.
Exod 6:3-8).”4 Genesis 50:25, recording the oath which Joseph took
of the Israelites to take his bones back to Canaan when God brought
the nation back to its land, anticipates both Exodus 13:19 and
Joshua 24:32. Exodus begins with a summary of the descent of Jacob
and his family into Egypt and the deaths of the patriarchs (Exod
1:1-6, looking back to Genesis), and it ends with a summary of the
Israelites’ wilderness wanderings (Exod 40:36-38, looking forward
to Numbers; cf. also Exod 16:35). Importantly, Exodus includes in
Exodus 38:26 the results of a census that is not recorded in the
narrative until Numbers 1. Again, the content of Leviticus would
not make sense without the historical context provided by
Genesis–Exodus. In Numbers, “the striking of the rock by Moses (Num
20:11) can only be understood if it is known that he was commanded
to do so in Exod 17:5-7.”5 Deuteronomy comments on the history and
law previously recorded, and anticipates Israel’s entrance into the
land under Joshua.
The “Five Books,” as received in the Hebrew canon, are in fact one
story—from creation (Gen 1:1) to the death of Moses (Deut 34).
These five works may be read as independent books, but they have an
interdependence that cuts across the traditional fivefold division.
The center books of
1 The etymology is πντε (five) + τεχος (book, scroll). The first
extant writer to use the term “Pentateuch” is Origen, although he
probably took it from the Jewish community in Alexandria. 2 Kenneth
A. Matthews, Genesis 1–11:26 (NAC, vol. 1A; Nashville: Broadman
& Holman, 1996), 42. 3 Huge scrolls are not unknown from
ancient Egypt, either, such as Papyrus Harris and The Book of the
Dead. It may also be noted that the entire book of Isaiah was
contained on a single scroll at Qumran. 4 Matthews, Genesis
1–11:26, 45. 5 Matthews, Genesis 1–11:26, 46.
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Dr. Anderson’s Interpretive Guide to the Bible Introduction to the
Pentateuch
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Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers are the most interdependent;
together they tell of the migration of Israel from Egypt to the
plains of Moab and the transition from the exodus generation to
that of the conquest. Genesis and Deuteronomy come closest to being
independent works, but by themselves each lacks a satisfactory
denouement, each looking beyond itself to the next epoch.6
Theme The unifying theme of the Bible, which mirrors the plan and
progress of history, is the fulfillment of God’s promise of
redemption for the human race. The first two and a half chapters of
the Pentateuch give the absolutely essential background information
regarding man’s original relationship with God and how man fell
into sin. The prophecy of the conflict between the serpent and his
seed and the woman and her seed in Genesis 3:15 contains the
thematic material for the remainder of the Pentateuch—and, indeed,
the thematic material of all history. The call of Abraham, and the
covenants made with Abraham and the nation of Israel, are direct
developments from the proto-evangelium (“first gospel”), as God’s
choice of a Seed to crush the head of the serpent and to rescue the
human race is progressively narrowed. Thus, from Genesis 12
onwards, the covenant with Abraham forms a more specific layer of
thematic material in the Pentateuch, and from Exodus 19 onwards, an
even narrower unifying theme is developed, which is the covenantal
relationship between Yahweh and the nation of Israel. Thus, the
Pentateuch introduces and develops the Bible’s overall theme of the
promise of redemption, describing specific steps which are taken
towards the fulfillment of this promise. However, the Pentateuch
ends, as does the Bible, with the ultimate fulfillment still
anticipated.
Purpose The purpose of the Pentateuch is to introduce and develop
God’s plan of redemption for the human race, from creation, to the
fall of man, to the initial promise of a Redeemer-Seed, to the
choice of Abraham as the mediator of the promised redemption, to
the definition of Abraham’s descendants as a national entity, and,
finally, to the covenantal union of this nation with God as His
peculiar possession. Within this overall purpose, five purposes for
our convenient fivefold division of the Pentateuch may be
identified as follows:
Purpose of Genesis
to describe the history of God’s
dealings with man from the beginning until the passing of Israel’s
patriarchs
Purpose of Exodus
national entity
code which it needed to live in
the promised land and worship the
God who dwelt in their midst
Purpose of Numbers
preparation in the wilderness for
entering the land
enter the land
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Dr. Anderson’s Interpretive Guide to the Bible Introduction to the
Pentateuch
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Message Given the purpose stated above, the following message of
the Pentateuch emerges: in the beginning, God created a perfect
world, and everything in this world was created for man as its
centerpiece. However, man failed, through the serpent’s temptation,
the test of love for his Creator, and fell under a sentence of
condemnation. God immediately promised to send a Redeemer-Seed, and
revealed the framework of history to be a spiritual conflict
between God, as man’s friend, and Satan, as man’s foe, that is
centered on the fate of the human race. The promise of a seed was
maintained through Noah when the remainder of the world was
destroyed in judgment. After the nations of the world rebelled
against God at Babel, God called out a faithful man, Abraham, whose
descendants He set apart unto Himself as His own people, and
through whose seed the Redeemer would arise. The promises to
Abraham were passed on to his son Isaac, then to Isaac’s son Jacob
(a.k.a. Israel), then to Jacob’s twelve sons. After Jacob’s
descendants grew into a large people in Egypt but fell into
bondage, God redeemed them from Egypt, then set them apart unto
Himself as His own possession, establishing a covenant with them,
and coming to dwell in their midst. After giving Israel
instructions on how to approach Him and live as a redeemed people,
the generation which had accepted the covenant failed to take
possession of the national homeland which God had promised to give
them, resulting in forty years of wandering in the wilderness as a
new generation was prepared. This new generation was finally
brought successfully to the entrance of Canaan and accepted a
renewal of Israel’s covenant with Yahweh. As Moses dies and Israel
encamps across the Jordan at Jericho, the nation is seen to be on
the cusp of fulfilling the next great stage of God’s redemptive
plan. Nevertheless, even possession of the land was nothing more
than an interim step to the raising up of a Prophet like unto Moses
who will accomplish Israel’s final and ultimate deliverance—a
Prophet whose advent was still anticipated at the close of the OT
prophetic era.
Author and Date Both the OT and the NT repeatedly attribute
authorship of the Pentateuch to Moses, who would have completed the
writing of the Pentateuch shortly before his death in 1405 B.C.
Verses which directly state that Moses actually wrote the words of
the Pentateuch are particularly compelling.7 Joshua 8:32-35
directly states that Moses wrote down all the words of the law, and
that Joshua read what Moses wrote to the people shortly after they
entered the land. Verses which refer to the Pentateuch as the Law
of Moses, the book of Moses, the commands of Moses, the words given
by the hand of Moses, etc., just as adequately demonstrate Mosaic
authorship.8 Mosaic authorship is also implied by the many verses
which treat the Law as inspired Scripture (e.g., Matt 5:17-18; 2
Tim 3:16-17; Heb 9:8), since the Pentateuch would be a fraud if not
written by Moses. Because of the clarity of the biblical evidence,
Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch was not seriously questioned
prior to the European Enlightenment.9 Most ancient Jewish and
Christian writings affirm Mosaic authorship.10 It is noteworthy
that the whole history
7 These are: Exod 17:14; 24:4-7; 34:27; Num 33:1-2; Deut 31:9, 22,
24; John 5:46-47; Rom 10:5, 19; see also Mark 7:10; Luke 16:29-31;
20:37; 24:27, 44. Note that these references include both legal
(e.g., Exod 24:4-7; Deut 31:9) and historical (e.g., Num 33:1-2)
portions of the Pentateuch. 8 Some of these are: Josh 1:7-8; 22:5,
9; Judg 3:4; 1 Kgs 2:3; 2 Kgs 14:6; 21:8; 23:25; 2 Chr 30:16;
34:14; Ezra 6:18; Neh 1:7-8; 8:1; 13:1; Dan 9:11-13; Mal 4:4; Matt
8:4; 19:7-8; Mark 7:10; 12:26; John 1:17; 5:45-47; 7:19, 22; Acts
3:22; 6:14; 13:39; 15:1, 5; 28:23; 1 Cor 9:9; 2 Cor 3:14-15; Heb
10:28. 9 Some early pseudo-Christian heretical sects questioned or
denied Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, in line with their
attacks on the rest of the Bible. Some early orthodox Christians
were influenced by the heretical views, and attributed authorship
of the Pentateuch to Ezra.
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Argument of Genesis The book of Genesis describes the earliest
historical stages in the development of God’s plan for man. It
focuses in particular on God’s plan to bring salvation to the human
race, first describing the need for salvation, then showing how the
plan was developed through God’s choice of Abraham and his seed.
The book ends anticipating the rest of the story. The history
recorded in Genesis covers an extraordinary length of time—2,370
years, to be exact.5 Comparatively little is said about the 1,656
years of antediluvian history. Probably there was little to record,
for the Bible indicates that human government was not established
until after the Deluge (cf. Gen 6:3; 9:6). There were no nations or
kings before the Deluge, and so no national histories or wars to
describe. The important characteristics of the antediluvian age are
its spiritual qualities, which are well documented. A godly remnant
is contrasted with an increasingly pagan and demonized world. A
line of promise is preserved through Noah. In the 352 years between
the Deluge and Abraham, man fails once again, resulting in God’s
judgment of the nations at Babylon and the birth of Abraham as a
new conduit of salvation immediately following the death of Noah.
The final thirty-nine chapters of Genesis focus on the family
history of the line chosen to be the inheritors of the promises to
Abraham, culminating in the beginnings of the nation of Israel in
its Egyptian cradle.
Creation Week, 1:1–2:3 The Bible’s account of human history begins,
as would be expected, with an account of creation (1:1–2:3). Untold
volumes have been written on this account, both in an attempt to
explain it away and in an attempt to show that the text stands as
written. In the end, however, the issue is simple: if the text is
accepted as it stands, it describes seven literal, approximately
twenty-four hour days, which are meant to be understood as true
history. To deny this is to deny the clear meaning of the text; if
spiritual issues were not involved, no intelligent person would
fail to see this. No section of Scripture is so carefully crafted,
so precisely structured and worded, as Genesis 1:1– 2:3. And no
wonder—it was literally dictated by God. The events of each day
follow a logical and consistent sequence, with not so much as an
extraneous word. The first day, 1:1-5. The first day of creation is
recorded in 1:1-5. The key events in this day include the creation
of a great watery mass, “the deep,” from which the stars and the
earth will be formed, followed by the creation of light, and the
division between day and night. The second day, 1:6-8. On the
second day (1:6-8), God makes a separation between the waters on
the outer edge of the deep and those in the middle, and begins to
form the heavens (i.e., outer space, “the expanse”) between them.
The third day, 1:9-13. On the third day (1:9-13), God speaks to the
formless ball of water in the center of the universe, forming from
its elements the foundations of the earth, the dry land, and an
atmosphere (1:9-10). He then creates plants on the earth, which of
course must precede the creation of animal life (1:11-12). The
fourth day, 1:14-19. On the fourth day (1:14-19), God created the
solar system, then created/revealed the stars.
5 Calculated as follows: 1,656 (years from Creation to the Deluge)
+ 1 (year of Deluge) + 352 (years from the Deluge to Abraham’s
birth) + 100 (age of Abraham at the birth of Isaac) + 60 (age of
Isaac at the birth of Jacob) + 130 (age of Jacob when he entered
Egypt) + 71 (years between Jacob’s entrance into Egypt and the
death of Joseph).
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The fifth day, 1:20-23. On the fifth day (1:20-23), God made marine
life and bird life, populating the skies and the sea. The sixth
day, 1:24-31. The sixth day (1:24-31) populates the land, which is
the final part of creation. Man is created last, since he is the
pinnacle of creation, and everything else in the creation was
created for him. Man, of course, was created for his Creator. There
was no sin or death in the creation; man and all animals were
herbivorous (1:29-30), and everything was very good (1:31). The
seventh day, 2:1-3. Creation was still incomplete after six days,
though there was nothing left to be made. God finished His work on
the seventh day (2:1-3) by ordaining the seventh day as a day of
rest, thereby establishing a pattern for man’s work cycle.
Early History of the Earth, 2:4–4:26 Section heading, 2:4. The next
section, which originally was probably written by Adam, possibly by
Seth or Enoch from information given to them by Adam, is titled,
“the history of the heavens and the earth when they created,” i.e.,
it is a record of the earliest events of earth history, beginning
with the creation of man, including early events which followed
from the creation. This entire section is loaded with historical
and theological significance which cannot be fully developed here.
The original position of man in the earth, 2:5-25. In order to tell
the story of man’s original position in the earth, the author
recounts the story of man’s creation, but with added detail.6 In
2:5-6, cultivated crops are what is meant by a “plant of the field”
and an “herb of field.” The phrase “of the field” signifies a
farmer’s field. Although plant life was created on the third day,
there were no cultivated crops before the creation of man, because
there was no man to plant and cultivate them. The context of 2:4-6
is a description of what the earth was like on day six, before man
was created—it is not a description of the interval in day three
between the creation of dry land and the creation of plant life.
These verses reveal that there was something lacking in the
original creation, something that only man could complete. To meet
this need, God created man (2:7), then God situated him in the
garden of Eden and gave him specific charges to keep (2:8-17).
However, there was still something lacking even after the creation
of man, and 2:18-25 describes the creation of woman in order to
meet this need. All of 2:5-25 describes events during the sixth day
of creation. The fall of man and its results, 3:1-24. Chapter 3
describes the single most tragic event in all of human history,
which is the fall of man. The chapter consists of three parts:
man’s temptation and fall (3:1-8), the curse and promise (3:9-21),
and man’s banishment from Eden (3:22-24). The world is totally
different at the end of ch. 3 than it was at the beginning of it. A
critical verse in the argument of Genesis is 3:15, which reveals
God’s plan to rescue man from the predicament he has fallen into.
This verse essentially gives the plot of the Bible. Early
postlapsarian history, 4:1-26. Chapter 4 is a chapter of “firsts,”
recording the initial and foundational events in human history
after the fall. Verses 1-8 note the first births, the first
recorded sacrifices, and then the first murder (4:1-8). This is
followed immediately by the first decree of retributive
6 Liberals try to say that this is a second creation account, and
that it conflicts with the creation account of 1:1– 2:3. Actually,
1:1–2:3 was an outline of the whole creation. Genesis 2:5-25
focuses in on a particular aspect of this, the creation of man, for
he holds a special place in the creation. There is nothing in
2:5-25 that in any way conflicts with 1:1–2:3.
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